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Thriller » Supernatural Thriller
Combining the edge-of-your-seat tension of the classic thriller with such basic horror oriented ingredients as ghosts, the occult and psychic phenomenon, the supernatural thriller combines the best of both worlds in creating a frightening but often restrained film that will have audiences hearts pounding and palms sweating. Generally eschewing the more graphic elements of the horror film in favor of sustaining a mood of menace and unpredictability, supernatural thrillers often find the protagonists either battling a malevolent paranormal force or trapped in a situation seemingly influenced or controlled by an otherworldly entity beyond their comprehension. Early upernatural thrillers included such frightful efforts as Dead of Night (1945), The Innocents (1961) and Carnival of Souls (1962), filmgoers of the 1970s were treated to an abundance of superior efforts including Nicolas Roeg's Don't Look Now (1973) and The Wicker Man (1973) and Roman Polanski's The Tenant (1976) to name just a few. Sustained by such efforts as The Dead Zone (1983) and The Lady In White (1988) throughout the 1980s, the supernatural thriller received a strong renaissance in the late 1990s in the wake of M. Night Shyamalan's massive hit The Sixth Sense (1999). Followed closely thereafter with such notable efforts as The Gift, What Lies Beneath (2000) and The Others (2002), it seemed that audiences were still eager to be frightened and filmmakers were more than willing to oblige.
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